Stop and smell the roses
by Matrix the Kitty
Summary: Natsu and Happy are on their way back to Magnolia after the three year mission they took to try and save their relationship with Lucy. Chapters are very, very short, but there will be many...
1. Tired

**Alrightsy... these are going to be very short chapters. Really, it started out as me thinking of was to make Natsu miserable, and then when pen was put to paper about a page and a half was filled. And then my mind decided to continue it on with little midget chapters, so none of them are over 500 words, most likely, but I've written the entire thing since it was so little, which means I can post it all really quickly.**

**I don't own Fairy Tail.**

**Enjoy~~~~**

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><p>It's 11:57 at night, and Natsu is tired.<p>

He's also angry, sad, confused, worried, and if he really stops to think about what he's feeling, love is probably somewhere in there too. But it's the feeling of tiredness that's overwhelming him right now.

He's tired of the three year long mission that he is almost done with. He's tired of Happy ignoring him. He's tired of not being with his nakama. He's _really_ tired of wondering what will happen when he and Lucy see each other again when him and Happy get home.

It's 11:58 at night, and Natsu is tired.

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><p><strong>I told you. Short. But that will get taken care of by the sheer amount of chapters that this story will have... <strong>


	2. Going home

"We're finally going home," Natsu remarks softly, gazing at the charred corpses of dark mages sprawled across the tarnished marble floor. Happy nudges a body with his foot, but he doesn't respond.

The portly man that is their terrified client shuffles forward from his hiding place and shakily pushes a large, thick sack of Jewels to Natsu.

The dragon-slayer grins his thanks and marches out of the smoldering mansion proudly. They have 100,000,000 J now, a sum that would last him and Happy for the rest of their lives.

Happy flies above his head as they make their way to the train station, but the exceed still stays silent. Natsu stops his victorious march at the station, and pulls out a handful of money from the sack to buy their tickets.

"Two tickets to Magnolia." the sentence makes Natsu's heart swell with pleasure, because he misses his family and he can't wait to get back to them. He is joyous for the first time in three years. They're finally going home.


	3. Fourth day on the train

Maybe it's because he's older and has matured, he's not really sure, but it's their fourth day on the train and Natsu has yet to get sick.

He's certainly not complaining though. Happy has even smiled at him, and that smile was something he hadn't seen in over two years. His mood dampens though when Happy wiggles their sack of reward money and happily says, "This would be enough to pay off Lucy's rent forever! She would absolutely forgive her if we gave her all this!"

And then he realizes exactly what he's said, and the likelihood of their blonde partner forgiving them.

Happy dejectedly mutters a "never mind", but Natsu looks away and says nothing.

He's still tired.


	4. Sit with us

It's morning on the ninth day when a young blonde woman gets on the train and passes by their compartment. Natsu and Happy look after her hopefully, but she passes on. The seemingly familiar woman continues on her path and never looks back at them.

The boys react in the same way each time a blonde female goes past them. Until the disappointment of every unfamiliar face grows to the point where they have no choice but to close the doors of their compartment and pull the shades down on the window.

Lucy is not on this train, and she wouldn't sit with them even if she was.


	5. Stop and smell the roses

It's the tenth day, so the conductor stops at a fancy hotel and pays for every passenger on the train to stay the night there.

Happy leads Natsu to a floral shop, because maybe seeing some beauty will make them feel better.

"Stop and smell the roses," the cat purrs, and he wonders whether this will make the dragon-slayer shut down.

Lucy used to say that all the time. Stop and smell the roses, because she loved them so much.

But Natsu only smiled, a weak, wistful smile. He could smell the roses, and they smelled like Lucy.

So they bought many snowy roses, because they would reach Magnolia in two days and because roses were one step closer on the path to forgiveness.

And it was almost like sleeping in Lucy's room again that night at the hotel, with the sweet scent of roses teasing the boys with the idea that things could go back to the way they used to be.

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><p><strong>I don't know whether or not Lucy actually likes roses, and I don't think she smells like roses, but this is how I've planned this.<strong>


	6. Stranger

Natsu is nervous. He's standing in front of Lucy's apartment, white roses in hand, Happy by his side.

He hasn't been here in years, and he's afraid of the person inside.

Afraid that Lucy hates them. Afraid that she would never forgive them for screwing up on her.

The roses in his hand shudder and wilt under the pressure of his clenched fist, but he doesn't let go and he doesn't loosen his grip.

He can feel his heart in his throat as he steps up to the front door, feels his throat tighten up, and he swallows thickly.

But the girly laughter tinkling inside the apartment is not his best friend's, and neither is the scent wafting out from inside.


	7. Family

Natsu pushes open the guild doors, both nervous and excited. The last time he's spoken to any of his friends was when he was taking the mission from the request board and snapping at everybody around him.

Would they still want to see him?

Happy grows tired of waiting for him to move and takes the initiative to push through.

The guild falls silent at the sight of the rosy haired dragon-slayer and cat that they hadn't seen in years. And then, quiet whispers of "They're back!" "Go tell the master!" They're finally back!" pierced the silence and rose in volume.

Natsu doesn't know what he's expected when they get back, but the crushing hugs of his family was certainly not it. The bodies surge around him, pressing, crooning, calling, and he feels truly happy.

He really has missed everybody.

But the one person he's looking for does not crush up against him in the throng of reunion. Lucy is not at her apartment, and surely no matter angry she was, if she'd been here she would've come up to him and said hi.

So Natsu gently peels Lisanna off of him and asks the question that the fairies react to like a bomb.

"Where's Lucy?"


	8. Silence

It's quiet again, but this is the kind of quiet that chokes and drowns you.

It's definitely not the answer he wants to his question.

"Where's Lucy?"

Gray looks at the floor. Erza turns around. Levy shifts so that her face is no longer visible.

Natsu looks at everybody. They're keeping something from him, he knows by the way that the air is thick with the nasty smell of fear.

He doesn't want his family to fear him.

"She's at her new home,"Makarov says. The small man makes his way to his child and sets a hand on his shoulder. "She's at her new home."

"Oh... that makes sense," Natsu sighs, feeling a little hurt. It's not like she could have known that he was coming back today, but he still had hoped that Lucy, his favorite person in the world, would be there to greet him when he had come home. "She wasn't at her apartment when I went there."

Gray clears his throat. Erza sighs, and steps up to Natsu and Happy.

"Lucy left about a year and a half after you did," She tells him. Probably not the best choice of words, because now he's looking panicked.

"Lucy's not in Magnolia anymore?" Natsu asks. "Where did she go?"

They're tensing up again. The tension in the air is thick and bothersome. Natsu hates looking around and seeing his family like this, even if they're keeping something from him.

"We can't tell you where she is exactly," Erza apologizes, "but she is still in Magnolia."

"Just tell me... please?"

"She's at the library," Levy whispers, looking sad. "I probably shouldn't say it, but you can find her there."

The guild pauses and looks at her.

But they don't have time to react, because Natsu and Happy are already out of the doors.


	9. Where?

They had been lied to. Lucy was most definitely _not_ at the library.

And she wasn't at the supermarket.

Or the clothing store.

Or the movie theatre.

By this point, Natsu and Happy had the general idea that nobody wanted to tell them where Lucy was. And Natsu couldn't even sniff her out, because her scent was nowhere to be found.

"N-Natsu-san?" Wendy asks nervously. Gray and Erza had sent her after Natsu in case he'd somehow manage to injure himself in his quest to find the missing mage.

Natsu grunted and glanced down at the little slayer. Maybe he could get her to tell-

"U-um, I know I am not supposed to tell you this but... I was just about to go visit Lucy and I thought maybe you two would want to come with me."

Natsu blinks in surprise, but he'll take that offer.

He misses Lucy, really misses her, and he needs to get her to be his friend again.

Wendy nods when she shuffles away, and Natsu realizes as they start walking, is that he's forgotten to bring the roses.

"Why are you turning around!?" Wendy calls when he turns and sprints away.

Natsu just laughs and waves. "Stop and smell the roses!"


	10. Truth

The roses slide out of his hands and hit with a splash into the mud.

_It's raining,_ Natsu thinks. _How fitting._

He slowly leans over, and scoops the muddy roses back up. Emotion ties a knot in his throat and he swallows it thickly before speaking.

"When?"

Wendy gently lays a daisy at the head of the gravestone, and the raindrops splatter onto her face. Natsu watches her tears disappear into the rain, and wonders if his own are doing the same.

"It was about a year and a half after you left," Wendy whispers. "She went with Gray and Erza on an S-class mission and she was stabbed."

"Couldn't they have saved her?" Natsu asks hoarsely. His throat doesn't seem to be functioning. He wipes his cheek numbly, and then sits beside the mound of dirt that was just barely sprinkled with grass.

"The wizard almost... almost cut her in half. She died in minutes," Wendy tells him. She watches the slayer grieve, wondering if she should've held out like everyone else and not told him... but he had the right to know when his best friend was dead.

Natsu sets his roses on the grave and sobs. If he'd known that she would've died before he'd gotten home... Natsu would have never taken the mission. Lucy shouldn't be dead right now.

"What happened to him?" he growled.

Wendy tilts her head until she realizes who he was inquiring about. "Gray killed him after he stabbed Lucy. They were with her until she died."

_And I wasn't._


End file.
